‘The Big Night In’ was a lesson in making online comedy look effortless. Let me tell you, it isn’t

Even before the pandemic some stand-ups had become pros at internet entertainment – now the rest of us are stumbling around in the dark trying to learn an entirely new skill

This week, my 12-year-old son doubled up as my technical support unit and floor manager.

We set up a corner of our home to serve as minuscule recording studio and performance space. We locked my phone to camera, balanced it on various thick cookbooks, used the piano as a cheery bookend and carefully arranged ornaments in the background to give an air of creative sophistication (I cannot play the piano).

In the early days of lockdown, a cousin of mine in Canada saw my hasty, fish-out-of-water efforts at creating “content” and sweetly sent me a ring lamp on a tripod “so you don’t look like a serial killer”. I now had decent lighting and was all set.

I’m one of the many, I know. But my work, my livelihood, has almost completely disappeared, so hell yes I snapped the hand off the company paying comedians to stream comedy live from their homes.

It’s not the same as standing on a stage in front of a live audience. When I say “it’s not the same”, I mean I may as well have been bricklaying in my front room, hoping the invisible, silent audience might like it.

Stand-up comedy is a conversation, it needs a response, good or bad. Emoji heckles don’t keep me on my toes. With the best will in the world, without an audience, I was a woman in her kitchen talking to herself.

In lockdown, us entertainers have been trying to find ways to entertain online for a number of reasons. Firstly, it’s our bread and butter and some of the content is paid either by a brand or by viewer donations. Another reason is that we are attention-seeking showoffs.

Some grumpalumps have trolled comedians and our, lets face it, hit and miss online endeavours: “Needy attention seekers!” Why yes. This is not news, nor is it an insult. They might as well try and jibe us by saying “YOU HAVE EARS AT THE SIDE OF YOUR HEAD!”. We know. A lockdown does not snuff out our compulsion to connect with strangers and be silly.

Some have already been successfully gaining a wide audience online long before Covid locked theatre doors. Paul Chowdhry managed the equivalent of selling out Wembley Stadium purely off the back of his Instagram content. Likewise, Russell Kane, another superb comedian who television panel shows inexplicably ignore, began his own online “Kaneings”. Hilarious, cleverly edited rants in his garage have made him a huge name amongst those who don’t need their comedy spoon-fed to them by TV executives. Jonathan Pie, the spoof TV reporter, was a hit on Twitter long before his sellout live tours.

These guys are pros at internet comedy, most of the rest of us are stumbling around in the dark trying to learn an entirely new skill.

Last night, BBC1’s The Big Night In pulled together some huge names for Comic Relief and Children in Need. The editors and production wizards are the heroes here. I loved visualising Catherine Tate rushing about her home, setting up a bedroom for her schoolgirl character Lauren Cooper, greasing down her own fringe. Stephen Fry with Prince William was a hoot. The whole cobbled-together feel of it was endearing but there are always the inevitable trolls.

Comic Relief has got it in the neck this year more than others. So many more of us are struggling financially and TV celebrities don’t seem as bulletproof online in their homes on lockdown as they did in shiny TV studios in the days when we could scratch our noses without risking catastrophe.

We are all peeking behind the curtain and seeing their hallways and knick-knacks and kitchen clutter. Without the framework of glitz and television magic, it can seem that we are watching a bunch of eccentric toddlers.

Those who cry: “why don’t they just donate their own wages instead?” are missing the point. A sense of unity comes when we gather together for a good cause; the world becomes smaller. It’s better for all of us. Likewise with the clapping on a Thursday.

Yes, I want to applaud our carers but I also get joy from seeing my neighbours and waving at their children. We troop back into our house feeling lifted.

The online entertainment I have enjoyed the most has taken me away from my own anxiety and my inner voice shrieking “YOU WILL NEVER LEARN TO EDIT!”

Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s Kitchen Discos with her children are pure joy. Some have found other beautiful ways to share their passion and create online unity. Olaf Falafel and Noel Fielding have art clubs and Tim Burgess from The Charlatans has created #timstwitterlisteningparty where everybody listens to an entire album together and gets to chat to the artist about it on a live thread. Bliss for an indie music nerd like me.

You have may have to rummage deep to find it, but there really is something for everyone as long as we have somewhere to balance our phones.